ABHYUTTHANAM SOCIETY Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Instant Public Interest Litigation has been filed for ensuring effective implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The petitioner is a duly registered Society having its registered office at 192, Swaran Jayanti Nagar, Bharatpur and is allegedly working for effective implementation and mandate of Constitution enshrined u/Art.21A, which has been inserted in the Chapter of Fundamental Rights by the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002, which provides for free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years as a fundamental right in such a manner as the State by law may determine and to fulfil the object, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has been enacted.

(2.) Indisputably, the education is a process which engages many different factors - the one who provides education (the teachers, the owner of educational institution, the parents), the one who receives education (the child, the pupil) and the one who is legally responsible for the one who receives education (the parents, the legal guardians, the society and the State) and these participants have influence in the right to education. The Act of 2009 makes the right of all children to free and compulsory education justiciable and it has been enacted keeping in mind the crucial role of Universal Elementary Education for strengthening the social fabric of democracy through provision of equal opportunity to all. The Directive Principles of the State Policy enumerated in our Constitution lays down that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children upto the age of 14 years. The Act of 2009 provides for the right (entitlement) of children to free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education in a neighbouring school. The Act of 2009 received the assent of the President on 26.08.2009 and came into force w.e.f. 01.04.2010. The provisions of this Act are intended not only to guarantee right to free and compulsory education to children but it also envisages imparting of quality education by providing required infrastructure and compliance with specified norms and standards in the schools.

(3.) The law enacted by the Parliament deals with separate definition of child belonging to disadvantaged group and child belonging to weaker section u/Sec.2(d) and 2(e) of the Act, 2009 and if the Parliament intended that benefits of Right of Education Act were to be conferred only on children belonging to disadvantaged group whose parents/guardians belong to economically weaker section of the society, the Parliament would not have given separate definitions of child belonging to disadvantaged group and child belonging to weaker section but would have given a combined definition of child belonging to disadvantaged group and weaker section . Similarly, provisions of Sec. 3 of the Right to Education Act also ensure that no child should be prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education on account of any financial weakness.